Woody Crumbo “Spotted Wolf’s Last Request” Print [SOLD]

This offset print is a reproduction of “Spotted Wolf’s Last Request”, a 1955 painting by Potawatomi artist Woody Crumbo.  It’s a large and elaborate image, with incredible detail and lots of movement.  There are over two dozen human figures here.  They’re arranged around and underneath a central structure, over which an American flag is draped.  Above the structure, a man and horse leap upward into a sky full of stylized designs.  The man raises an American flag as he looks back over his shoulder.  Down below, there is much to explore within the large gathering.  Each figure is complex and beautiful, and the variety of items arranged on the ground—pottery, textiles, beadwork, musical instruments, arrows—will delight collectors who appreciate the wide variety of artworks and tools created by Native people.  This is a wonderful image from a legendary artist.

“Spotted Wolf’s Last Request” (1955), one of his most famous paintings, is a tribute to all Native American soldiers, but was created to honor Private First Class Clarence Spotted Wolf, a young Sioux Indian killed in Luxembourg who wrote a letter to his parents before he died saying that if he was killed and they had a victory parade, he wanted a soldier to go first carrying the American flag, and a cowboy to go next and lead his saddled horse for his spirit to ride. Spotted Wolf received a traditional scaffold burial before his military funeral, and in the painting he rises up from the prone pile of traditional burial items draped with a flag on a spirit horse, each brushstroke has been applied with a palpable force.  Allison Meier, December 13, 2012

The print is mounted within an elaborate and beautiful frame.  It is signed Crumbo in lower right, but not by hand—the painting’s original signature is reproduced.

Woody Crumbo (1912-1989) was a successful and influential Potawatomi painter and printmaker. He created silkscreens and etchings of his original work to make his creations very affordable to collectors around the world. Crumbo was the son of Mary and Alex Crumbo; father of Minisa Crumbo Halsey. Woody's father died when he was four, and his mother died when he was only seven.

At the end of the 3rd grade, Crumbo's schooling was interrupted for nearly ten years. During this period, he, and other young Indian boys of Anadarko, Oklahoma, were encouraged by Susan Peters, who worked with them, finding them materials with which to paint and a market for their work. "Some of us were so small," Crumbo said, "that we sat on gallon buckets and used the backs of chairs for easels."  The artist returned to school at 17 to study art, anthropology, and history and to pursue his many talents. In 1952, he said, "Half of my life passed in striving to complete the pictorial record of Indian history, religion, rituals, customs, way of life, and philosophies. It is now accomplished —a graphic record that a million words could not begin to tell." In 1939, Philbrook Art Center was given the first Indian painting in its collection, Crumbo's Deer and Birds."  [Snodgrass 1968].

Crumbo was the second director of the Art Department at Bacone Indian College, Muskogee, OK, following Acee Blue Eagle. He spent many years as a close friend and advisor to Thomas Gilcrease, as he assembled his art collection. Crumbo was one of the three Indian artists who were closest to Mr. Gilcrease, the other two being Acee Blue Eagle and Willard Stone.

Note that the U.S. Flag in this scene seems to have 49 stars (see below).  There was only one year in U.S. history where this occurred:  July 4, 1959, to July 3, 1960 when Alaska joined the Union.  Regardless of this "extra" star, this image is an appropriate tribute to his fallen brethren.

Condition: this Woody Crumbo "Spotted Wolf's Last Request" Print is in excellent condition.  Fabric band in the frame has some discoloration in one corner.

Provenance: from the collection of a gentleman from Illinois

References:

- The Biographical Directory of Native American Painters by Patrick D. Lester

- Beyond the Curio: A Native American Artist Who Never Quite Breaks Free. Online Art Review by Allison Meier, December 13, 2012. Hyperallergic Independent Arts Journalism, Oklahoma History Center. 

Relative Links:  Potawatomi, Acee Blue Eagle, Native American Paintings, Woodrow Wilson Crumbo Potawatomi Painter and Printmaker